Racingboo

I was doing well with training when lo and behold, my dear throat decided to throw a spanner in the works. I got a peritonsillar abscess, better known as a quinsy, which landed me in hospital for three days. I asked the ENT specialist whether I could exercise while on the antibiotics (which I'm taking for another week), and he said yes. He also said my body has taken a huge knock with the infection, that it will take me a few weeks to fully recover, and that I will have to take it easy for a while to come, because quinsys can recur. I asked if I can still do the race on 21 March, the second duathlon in that series, which I'd been looking forward to enormously. The doctor said: "You won't have the energy."

I got back home yesterday afternoon, and indeed felt as if I'd raced a train over 100km, wearing lead boots. Today I went to gym, just to sit in the steam room and in the jacuzzi for a while and get the stiffness from my muscles. I felt so much better. I bought a super-duper tonic to help my body recover. My mind tells me I should decide now to skip the duathlon, there's a whole season ahead. My heart is crying huge tears and keeps saying: "It's not as if he said you shouldn't do it, he just said you won't have the energy. What if you do?" I didn't mention to him how much training I'd been doing already, maybe if I had he would have said something different?

Ach, I'm probably being an idiot. But it's such a horrible disappointment. I was going to do the same race I'd tackled with my hybrid and little fitness, this time with my brand new road bike (which I'm still hoping to get on 11 March) and quite a bit more training behind me. I was so excited to see what a difference it would make if I addressed a few time-wasters I'd identified as well. I'm really taking this hard. Reluctant to contact the club and volunteer to marshal instead, as that would be committing myself to not racing. Which is exactly why I should do it.

Tomorrow. I'll still agonise over the decision the rest of today, but really, the sensible thing to do is to sit this one out.

F**k. This really sucks.

nazzo

Ouch, that doesn't sound enjoyable I'd take this month easy and work on your recovery. I don't see the point of overworking yourself now and vastly increasing your chance of injury or another infection which would put you out for even longer.

Christian.

Racingboo, I don't know you but I feel for ya. I am in the same boat as of last Saturday. I have been in a training camp for the last 15 weeks, we had 2 weeks left and I rolled my ankle over and tore some ligaments while playing indoor soccer last Saturday. Luckily nothing broke to the point where I need surgery. Our first criterium race was scheduled for this Saturday, the 6th, when the series starts. I was trying to place well within the series, but this starts things off on the wrong foot per se.

Long-story-short, you know it is better to take the time and steps towards a full recovery...as do I. Luckily, we have a local bike swap that day so I am going to hobble down to the swap and spend my newly acquired bonus money on some new bike parts and some pints after.

Cheers sir,
Christian.

jetta-the-hut

Dang sorry to hear that boo, I'm hard headed, I took a week off and went back to training, now everynight at the 2.5 mile mark or there close to it I can feel my foot twinging.

I would say don't switch your entry just yet, whens the race? I would wait till the very last point where you cant get a refund and then decide.

You might feel way better by race day,or at least I hope you do!

Racingboo

Nazzo, pleased to meet you, and thanks for the sound words.

Christian, thanks for the good wishes and good advice, and I'm really sorry to hear of your own woes. It always helps to hear others also deal with setbacks like this, as if you're not so alone.

I'm definitely going to bear what you've said in mind, and be careful not to mess things up for myself for when the real season starts by overdoing it now.

Jetta, I haven't paid the entrance fee yet, which is minimal anyway, so what I'm going to do is to ease back into training this week, and leave the decision over whether to participate or not for the few days before the race. It's not a very strenuous one, so if I feel good and strong, I don't think it woud put more stress on my body than my normal Sunday long ride would. However, I'm going to err on the side of caution and rather stay on the sidelines than take any chances.

Tourmalet

Ack I just dealt with the same thing a few weeks ago. Swimming was the worst because of congested sinuses. I took 10 days off swimming, and ran/cycled indoors (treadmill and trainer) so not to expose the airway to cold air. Kept my heart rate lower than normal (130-135 VS 145-150). So basically take it easy for a bit.